Unexpected
by muaaimoi
Summary: Max and Caroline meet a year before her fathers ponzi scheme is exposed at the ball. There are clear benefits to this.
1. Chapter 1

**Unexpected**

**By: muaaimoi**

She can't believe the humiliation.

Caroline had walked into the Charity Ball like the Queen she knew herself to be. Head held high, shoulders back, and a dress that cost more than some prime New York real estate. She is ready to wow William, and leave the ball with an equally wealthy and gorgeous boyfriend. She hadn't realized she wouldn't be the only one with that plan. Stupid Alexa Walker had recognized her as competition and gone as far as to spill wine on her dress. In front of _everyone_. It had taken everything Caroline had not to lunge at her and make a scene. Instead she'd grabbed one of the servers near her and dragged her with her into the bathroom.

"Please tell me you know how to get wine out of this?" She hisses at the server, half begging.

"Red wine?" The girl asks, arching an eyebrow.

"Well it's sure as hell not white!" Caroline snaps.

The girl nodded knowingly."I gotcha. But I expect to be compensated for my services."

"I'll give you five hundred dollars if you can get the stain out."Caroline proposes. This is the perfect dress. There is nothing in her closet that fits the occasion better. She spent two weeks ensuring that was the case.

"Will you double that if I spill some wine 'accidentally' on that red head?" The server counter offered with a sly smirk across her rouge colored lips. Caroline was immediately hit with wonderful images of Alexa's freckled face going splotchy with rage.

"Deal." She was quick to confirm.

"I'll be right back." The server assured her with a wicked smile.

Caroline hid in a stall as she waited. Roughly ten minutes later she felt a rap on the door. She opened it to find herself splashed yet again, with what smelled like vinegar this time. She gaped at the girl in front of her. The server seemed unimpressed.

"Come on blondie, off with the dress, I need to scrape it with backing soda real quick and then wash it off."She explained.

"But I don't have anything else to wear!" Caroline hissed.

"Then you'd better close the door unless you want anyone that wanders in to see you naked." The 'obviously' wasn't said, but rather heavily implied.

"How are you even planning to dry it?" Caroline demanded.

"It's called the hand drier and it wouldn't be the first time." The server said."Now hurry up blondie, some of us haven't got all night."

Caroline closed the door, stripping quickly. She handed her dress over the stalls door, she'd never been half naked in a bathroom stall before, and it wasn't an experience she planned to repeat. It stung, just a little less than her recent public humiliation."My name's not blondie by the way. It's Caroline, Caroline Channing."

"Yeah, whatever"Was the irreverent reply.

"How do you even know if the backing soda works?"She asked.

"Mom was a messy drunk." The server replied."She used to spill everything, from cheap vodka to five dollar bottles of wine. I learned to get alcohol stains out of everything."

Caroline found herself dully impressed. She startled slightly when the hand drier turned on.

"Those things are microbe cesspits you know." She informed the other girl with a huff. Hadn't her poor ball gown suffered enough.

"Poor people have strong immune systems."She was immediately sassed."We have to, since we can't afford doctors."

Caroline focused on her shoes. Forcefully reminding herself that she wasn't at fault because others weren't as well off as herself. She did plenty of charity work and tried to give back. At least the other girl had a mother, even if she had been a drunk.

The hand drier finally went off, and the server passed her the dress. Caroline inspected it, it felt a little damp, but nothing that showed, and she couldn't see an inch of the stain.

"Great job."She praised, surprised. Part of her hadn't really expected the other girl to succeed.

"I know. With me you're totally getting your moneys worth. Now come on, we still have my favorite part coming up."

Caroline beamed, opening the door, she'd been looking forward tot his part too."She's wearing that pale pink monstrosity. Make sure it really shows."

The server absently twirled one of her curls with yet another wicked smile,"your wish is my command."

They walked out of the bathroom together, the server breaking of in search of a serving tray with red wine. She couldn't wait.

Not that she had forgotten her true aims for the evening. Especially when she ran into William.

"Caroline." He said, with one of his movie star smiles."I thought someone spilled wine on your dress."

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with a coy smile."It looked worse than it was."

William racked his eyes over her dress, clear desire in them, just as planned. It was the perfect dress, royal blue, Williams favorite color, and emphasized her every curve."I can see that. You look stunning."

Just then a gasp spread through the crowd around them along with the tail end of a shriek. Caroline turned to find Alexa covered in red wine, the server trying and failing to hide a smile.

"You stupid bitch." Alexa screamed,"I'm going to get you fired for this!"

The server shrugged,"Accident's happen lady. Maybe you have bad Karma."

It took everything Caroline had not let a big goofy grin escape at that. She just barely succeeded.

"I can't believe she made such a scene." William tutted.

Caroline smirked."I guess not everyone can handle accident's with style and grace."

"Clearly." William affirmed, giving her another heated look."Would you like to share a limo with me tonight Caroline?"

She smiled seductively, dropping her voice to a suggestive whisper."Clearly."

"I'll go inform my driver." William said, giving her hand a lingering press of his lips.

Caroline smiled, looking around for the girl that had helped her. She found her looking right back at her by a corner, wondered briefly if she realized what her exchange with William meant, before deciding she didn't care and heading over.

"Well someones getting laid tonight." The server commented with a sardonic smirk, confirming her suspicions. Caroline matched it with a self satisfied version of her own. William wasn't anything to be ashamed of.

"Thank you so much for your help tonight." Caroline said, utterly heartfelt. The other girl had certainly gone above and beyond the call of duty.

"Hey, I got to splash two rich girls and I even got paid for it. Best. Night. Ever."

"What's your name anyway?" She felt kind of bad she hadn't asked for it before.

Caroline was treated to another wicked smile."Max, Max Black."

Caroline pulled out her checkbook and signed a check for five thousand dollars. She ripped it out and handed it over with an impish grin. It widened as Max gaped at the check, eyes so big they looked ready to jump out of their sockets.

"Max Black." She repeated."I'll remember that."

**x**

**Welp, I promised you guys multichapter story, so here it goes. Obviously they have a few other run-ins before they become friends, and then more. Pretty slow burn for me, so im thinking about ten chapters? I guess we'll see. I've also decided to make the next installation on the Speed Bump verse multichapter. Since you guys seem to want more of that. It should make it easier to just keep adding on. Please let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Unexpected**

**By: muaaimoi**

Most of the time Max doesn't really mind baby sitting the twins.

In her secret heart of hearts Max really likes kids. They're adorable, and babies are extra awesome because they haven't even learned to speak yet, but they still giggle and laugh when you play with them. It's fun, like with puppies, or cats. The twins, being newborns, don't do much but cry and poop. But they are still cute. And there is something about staring into the sleepy eyes of a newborn that's magical. Like they know every secret in the universe, and don't speak because secrets are meant to be kept. Or something like that. Max isn't terribly poetic.

Peach though, Peach she does mind. The woman is an idiot. She's not particularly malicious or anything, but Max is sure the twins would be dead if Peach didn't have the money she's constantly throwing around. She wonders about it sometimes. The twins will never go hungry, they will never wan't for anything that isn't their parent's affection. Max had at least received that. Every once in a while, on the rare occasion her mother was sober. And presumably as a baby since she'd actually survived her childhood.

She wonders if everyone is meant to be poor in someway. If maybe, no matter what you do have, it's never enough in the face of what you lack.

Fuck if she knows. She's been having deep thoughts lately. Ever since those five thousand dollars magically appeared in her bank account. She's kind of amazed at herself actually. She hasn't touched them. Can't really believe that something good has actually happened to her. Call her paranoid, but Max is waiting for the other shoe to drop. She's been half expecting to get hit by a car, or get appendicitis, something. Just-something terrible that will put her bank account back into the negatives.

She thinks it might finally happen when Peach decides to show off her newborns to her friends in central park, heedless of Max's warnings that babies that young can't actually do anything. Inevitably the babies sleep when they get there, Max is half expecting to get fired. Peach get's huffy and ignores them in favor of speaking to some of her high society friends instead. Most of them have foisted their spawn off on to sitters and are free to gossip, or whatever it is that high society chicks do when they gather en mass at the park. Max wouldn't know. She just makes sure that the twins are bundled up well, and watches the pigeons. It's not terribly interesting, but she's had worse afternoons. At least she get's to sit on the bench, sitting is something you come to appreciate once you've been a waitress long enough. The profession tends to be murder on your feet.

Two hours tick by. One of the twins needs a quick diaper change, but is easily lulled back to sleep. The other nannies briefly catch her attention, but one of them is kinda old and looks like she only speaks Spanish. Two have been having a very involved conversation in Russian, they'd asked her something, but Max isn't fluent, so they'd ignored her once it'd been established that she wasn't one of them. The last one has been texting on her phone, looking increasingly distressed as time went on. Eventually the Russian chicks left with their bosses, and the old Spanish lady had trailed after her high society chick soon after. Until it was just the texting girl and Max left on the benches. She wonders what they can possibly be talking about. At least until she looks over and realizes that Peach is gone. She stares incredulously around her before she accepts that yes, Peach has ditched them at the park. She sighs, checking her phone for any text messages. Hoping there's at least some instructions about what she's expected to do with the children.

There's nothing. Zilch. Nada.

That's when texting girl bursts into tears. It's just in time for her boss to arrive on her scene. How the woman manages to ignore the gross sobbing, Max will never know. She watches, fascinated, as the woman snatches what is presumably her child from the crying nanny and presents her to a rather familiar looking blonde.

"Caroline, this is Eliza, isn't she pretty?" The redhead enthuses.

"Beautiful." Caroline agrees, and it is definitely her blonde benefactor from the ball, what are the chances? The woman quickly deposits her spawn into Caroline's arms. Caroline almost drops the baby twice before getting a decent grip on her middle. Max bites back a laugh. Not terribly surprised the redhead isn't worried about her babies health and that she's busy talking about how terrible the pregnancy was. And how it took forever to get the really good drugs.

The crying sitter's phone gives a chirp, her eyes immediately zeroing in on the screen. Her face crumples impossible further and she wails. Loud, miserable, and startling. Her screaming wakes the twins and Max has actual work to do. She starts rocking the carriers and shushing them. She looks up just in time to see her take off running.

"Marissa! Get back here!" The redheaded woman screams, and get this, takes off running after her. Screeching,"Come back here or you're fired!"

Max looks back at Caroline. She's holding the kid under the armpits. As far away from her body as possible while still holding her. Like she thinks the kids sick and contagious or something. She looks a little pole axed. Like she's having trouble wrapping her head around what just happened. She's obviously never delt with kids before.

A familiar smell begins emanating from from Eliza's diaper. Caroline shoots the child a horrified look as her nose scrunches up and she begins to fuss.

"Help me." She hisses at Max. She sounds terrified. Max can't quite bite back a grin. It's pretty funny.

"Hands are pretty full over here."Max says, as she is rocking the twins. Eliza is not the only baby being fussy."Want me to talk you through it?"

"You're the nanny, right? Come here and nanny Eliza! She needs it" Caroline is still whispering. Her freaking out is still hilarious.

"Two kids I can handle,"Max says,"Three might be a little much."

"Name your price."Caroline says once Eliza starts squirming and crying in earnest."Just please help me Max."

She's surprised Caroline remembered her name. And quite happy at the prospect of the extra cash. If Caroline had given her five thousand for spilling wine on an enemy, she's pretty sure she can score double that just cuz changing a kid involves poop.

"Come here and rock the twins, they're almost asleep." Max says, because it's not the twins fault that she's greedy.

Caroline ushers Eliza into her arms with a relieved expression better suited to people who've just dodged bullets. The run away nanny had taken her diaper bag with her, but Max has her own supplies. She has Eliza changed, and soothed within five minutes. She seems like an easy going kid, a few months older than the twins. Max coo's at her softly and Caroline watches her like she's just performed a magic trick.

"You can stop rocking now."Max informs her,"The twins are asleep."

Caroline does her one better and pulls out her check book.

"You're an amazing nanny."Caroline says, earnest, and hands her a check for ten thousand dollars.

Seems like Max had been right. Double what she got last time exactly.

"Help me take her home?"Caroline asks hopefully.

Max can't tear her eyes away from the check."We have to drop the twins off first."

**x**

**Chapter two :) Really hope you guys like this, thanks so much for you guys that review! It really helps inspire me to write!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Unexpected**

**By: muaaimoi**

Caroline doesn't know what she's doing at a rave.

Doesn't know what she's doing in the seedy Brooklyn warehouse full of drug addicts and wasted people. And to think, the evening had begun with such promise. William had wanted to introduce her to some of his friends. They'd had some art exhibit at a classy gallery in Manhattan, she'd enjoyed the chance to support such a talented artist. Enjoyed the fine wine and better company. She'd felt completely at home in her designer dress and shoes. She'd always loved a good party.

It seemed like a great idea to hitch a ride on his friends limo to yet another party. She hadn't wanted the night to end.

Now all she could do was regret the decision to come. Regret leaving her purse in the car. Regret ignoring that the music was so loud, and that they had to be in the bad part of town. Regret losing sight of William and his friends. But most of all she regretted leaving the place when it started giving her a headache. She simply wasn't made for withstanding tacky flash effects. She takes off before her headache graduates into a migraine. She hates those, and she doesn't have any medicine on her. She just needs to get home.

Of course that's when it starts to rain. When Caroline has no idea where she is, and can't spot any shelter. It's like the day from hell, and there is no end in sight. But she is Caroline Channing, she is not about to be defeated by some unfortunate weather and a little bad luck. Thunder roars over head and she has to acknowledge that okay, it's quite a lot of bad luck. It's like the sky is pouring an ocean down on her. The sheer amount of water is sudden and distressing.

By the time she finds herself somewhere vaguely commercial she's drenched down to the bone. Designer dress and all. She feels like an icicle. And it's with trembling fingers that she tries to push the doors to the first business she sees open. She finds it closed. The door doesn't budge, and the red closed sign she finally sees mocks her. She's too cold to be properly outraged. Instead she rushes to the next door. Finding that closed as well. She works her way down the street and not one business is open.

Caroline can't believe this shit.

She spots someone a few feet away. It's mostly blurred, but she's pretty sure the mass is a person. Caroline sees them make a beeline to the store front she'd just tried and opens her mouth to warn them that it's closed. Which is why it stays open when the blur disappears into the store. Caroline runs after it, calling after the person to please wait and hold the door.

Stepping through the door feels heavenly. Without the water beating steadily on her skin shivering actually gives her some warmth. Caroline wraps her arms tightly around herself and gives her savior a heartfelt thanks. That's when the familiarity registers.

"Max?"Caroline gapes. Because one is an incident, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern. And this is the third time the other girl has inadvertently come to her rescue.

"Caroline?"Max asks back, clearly as surprised as she is. There is an awkward moment where they stare at each other like idiots before Caroline smiles. She doesn't care that the odds are a million to one. She's just so glad Max helped her out of her latest jam. Max seems especially suited to it. Her own personal knight in shining armor.

"Man am I glad to see you!"

Max wrings some water from her hair, prompting Caroline to squeeze her own blonde hair, and laughs."Lucky you I let a friend of mine talk me into coming to a rave nearby."

"Bad lighting, worse music, and lots of vomit on the floor?"

Max grins at her,"It's like you're psychic, how'd you know?"

Caroline makes a face,"I was there."

Max breaks into laughter again,"I didn't really think it was your scene princess."

"My boyfriend's friends have bad taste."She sighs,"Then I went and lost them, got a headache, decided to leave. Realized I left my purse in the limo and then it started to rain...And here we are."

"Sounds like someone had a bad day."Max says, there's a glaring lack of sympathy. Caroline considers getting angry before she remembers that she's rich and Max...isn't. For all she knows her terrible day sounds like just another weekend to Max. They are both seeking shelter from the rain in the same store, after all.

Speaking of,"How'd you get the door to open?"

"Field trip with my moms boyfriend." Max says, making no sense at all, before clarifying,"He took me to rob a few shops back in the day. I picked up a few things." She winks.

Caroline considers that she is currently consorting with someone who engaged in criminal activity at a young age and doesn't know what to do with that. Decides that she's better off getting home as soon as possible. She can make an informed decision when she gets home. She'll make a few calls, have Max investigated. It's not often she decides to be friends with someone of a lower social standing, and she'd feel a lot better about it once she has confirmation that Max isn't a current criminal.

"Can you please call us a cab? I don't have my phone, or any cash, but if you give me your number we both know I'll pay you back and then some."

"You are good like that."Max acknowledges, reaching into her pocket.

"Oh my god is that a flip phone?"

"So what if it is? What's wrong with it." Max crosses her arms defensively and Caroline realizes she's being offensive. She can't help it though. A flip phone of all things!

"Nothing. It's just that it's like seeing a dinosaur. No one uses those anymore, it's all about touch screens now."

"This works just fine."Max says curtly, and Caroline mentally adds a few thousand to the check she plans to present Max with. She's never been above bribing people to like her, after all. Why start now? They wait in silence. It stretches oddly, becoming uncomfortable. Caroline decides to break it,"So what did you invest the money I gave you in?"

"Invest?"Max sounds completely baffled.

There's a honk outside that signals the presence of her cab. Caroline smiles as she gets on, adjusting her plans for their future friendship. She's always liked challenging projects, and helping Max financially is bound to be a dozy.

**Snobby Caroline is actually pretty fun to write! Hope you guys like it :) Also let me know if there's something you'd like to see, I'll see what I can do about it. Thanks so much to those of you taking the time to drop me a line. You're amazing :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Unexpected**

**By: muaaimoi**

Max gets picked up by a town-car. It's old fashioned, clearly expensive as hell. A reminder she hadn't needed of Caroline Channing's status as a rich princess. A really, really rich princess. Max gapes at her building for a little bit. She feels like the very air is expensive, somehow. Like she's breathing fancy oxygen that probably costs more than the most expensive thing she'd ever owned in her life. She has no idea what she is doing here. But Caroline will probably give her money, and Max can always use the cash.

She'd gone a little crazy with the money in her bank account. She'd brought her dream oven. Then panicked and tried to be responsible with the rest. She'd actually paid her student loans. And now, there's still money left, and sure it's some grade A weed, and some rocking clothes if she wants it, but she's trying not to totally blow all of it. It's just that she actually doesn't know what you're supposed to do with money you aren't spending. She's lived paycheck to paycheck her entire life. Savings are a foreign concept. Something she heard that people are supposed to have, but doesn't actually apply to herself. Like caring family members, or taxes.

Caroline's question about 'investments' seemed promising, but Max doesn't understand why the blonde would really help her. She'd helped her out of a few tight spots and all, but rich people weren't exactly known for caring about the lower class. It wasn't exactly like Max had done it out of the goodness of her heart either, or even for free for that matter. What exactly would she get out of helping Max of all people? She wasn't exactly quality charity material, she partied too hard, and slept around too much. Max wasn't even pretty, although her rack was pretty legendary.

"Hello, Max."Caroline said, startling Max out her introspection.

"Caroline."Max acknowledged, hoping her nerves weren't shining through. If she had felt inadequate before, the feeling was only increased by how perfect Caroline looked. Like she'd just walked out of a photo shoot for rich fashionistas. Hell, for all Max knew, she probably had.

"Would you like a tour?"Caroline offers-gesturing casually to the place. Like her couch alone probably didn't cost more than all of Max's internal organs on the black market.

"Not really."Max answered, because she couldn't help herself. She didn't feel comfortable surrounded by so much luxury, especially not when she barely understood the reason she had been invited. Couldn't Caroline just give her a check so she could go? Just like she had the first few times Max had met her, she hadn't realized how much she appreciated the curtness of their transactions.

She's unprepared to have Caroline smirk,"That's because you haven't seen my closet yet."

With that Caroline turns and starts walking away. Max hesitates for a moment and follows. She is unprepared for the wonderland that Caroline calls her closet. It's all she can do to walk around and double take every few seconds. And she almost faints once Caroline's shoes start rotating. They're all so beautiful. Max is a woman after all, appreciation for designer footwear is hardwired into her DNA somewhere. That's when she spots the tub.

"You have a bathtub in your closet?"Max feels faint by the sheer indulgence of it. There's a clear complicated looking film of rubber running across the bottom of it and she just knows that it probably has a massage setting. Rich people have all the best toys.

Caroline beams,"It double's as a hot-tub."

Max begins to strip.

"What are you doing?"Caroline demands.

"I need to get in there."Max explains, unashamed. It's probably the only chance she'll get-if Caroline doesn't kick her out first that it, but she is going to hate herself forever if she doesn't take a shot at getting in there.

She's surprised when Caroline laughs, turning around to give her some privacy,"You're something else. Make sure you use the bubble bath so I don't see more of you than I want to."

The tub does vibrate, the bubble setting make'jets of water hit her in places that felt like their sole purpose in life was to be hit by jets of water. So the thought wasn't terribly coherent, but whatever. Max felt amazing. She'd had orgasms that didn't feel as awesome as the tub did. By the time Caroline turns back around she is totally blissed out.

"I am moving into your closet. This tub is my home now."She announces with a throaty groan.

Caroline laughs some more, she does not seem to think Max is serious- Max is completely serious."You will only drag me out of here as a soggy corpse."

"That's what the cleaning ladies are for."Caroline replied with a snobby sniff. Max couldn't bite back her giggle at the other girl's expression.

"You look like someone crapped on your shoes."She informs the other girl.

"I did pick that look up from my grandmother."Caroline shrugs,"Now onto business. What have you done with the money I gave you so far?"

Max settles easily into the interrogation, she barely notices that Caroline has produced a clipboard from somewhere and is apparently writing stuff about whatever she's asking Max down. She doesn't pay a lot of attention to the questions. She figures the longer she talks the longer she gets to stay in the tub. Caroline could ask her for her first born and Max would happily offer it up in exchange for even partial custody of the tub/Jacuzzi hybrid. She's fairly certain she's just been introduced to the love of her life.

She's pretty sure over an hour has passed once Caroline hands her a robe. Max stalls like a pro-anything for just a little more time in the magical tub.

"Why does nothing that causes me joy lasts?"She asks the universe at large. Standing up, she attempts to cinch the robe tightly enough so her boobs don't decide to open it again.

"Because you're incredibly financially irresponsible?" Caroline offers, watching her efforts with an amused smile.

Max wrinkles her nose in thought,"Nah-that can't be it." She's finally getting out when the robe looses against her cleavage and starts gaping open at the top, she's distracted by putting her girls away, and forgets her feet are wet. Caroline watches it all happen, but she doesn't manage to move back fast enough when Max trips and falls into the other girl. They land in the worst way possible.

More specifically-her lips land on Caroline's. Panic paralyzes her, what exactly is the etiquette for accidentally kissing your hosts? That would be the lone etiquette rule Max would now have liked to have known about. The heiress is completely pink when they both unfreeze enough to pull back. She presses an envelope into Max's hands, mutters something about sending a maid to escort her out, and takes off like Max has just revealed she's a serial killer who likes scalping blondes.

"Don't call me."Max mutters to herself,"I'll call you." She waits until she get's home to open the envelope. She's glad-no one's around to watch her flail like a crazy person. There's a check for fifteen thousand dollars and a ticket to Hawaii. There's also a letter that says to be ready on Friday because they're going shopping for stuff to take on the trip. It's like she's found herself a fairy godmother or something. A girl who has money instead of magic. And hey-bonus, she's super hot. Max touches her lips, remembers how soft Caroline's had felt. It was a darn shame about the boyfriend. She could totally live with having a sugar mama.

**Okay, first order of business, thanks so much to crazyshay77. She gave this chapter polish and made it legible, any mistakes you guys catch are all mine. That said, Max's low self esteem makes me sad :( Hope you guys liked the accidental smooch, props to Vincent for the idea :) I have some cool plans for your other suggestions, so thank you very much for contributing.**


End file.
